Lions, Tigers hope to be heading in right direction as district approaches

Through the inconsistency of the 2012 season, New Deal coach Ron Mayo fondly harkens back to his time in the early 1990s as an assistant at Euless Trinity.

He remembers how the Trojans exactly 20 years ago, like the Lions this season, found themselves at 2-3 through the first half of the season. Trinity finished that 1992 campaign in the state finals against Converse Judson.

Mayo still believes New Deal is capable of the same kind of surge this season.

“I think we’re on the verge,” said Mayo as his team prepares to host Slaton (3-1) tonight at Faubian Field in the final non-district game for both teams. I still think we can be a very good football team. We’re not there yet and we’re still trying to find out who we are. Hopefully we can find out before district.”

Mayo said the inconsistent play by the Lions, who have won two of their last three after starting the year 0-2, has left him still moving players into different positions trying to find the right fit. It’s part of what’s made the Lions look inconsistent from one week to the next.

But the consistency has gotten better the last three weeks, which include wins over Lamesa and previously unbeaten Sudan sandwiched around a loss to Farwell.

“We just weren’t executing well and got off to a slow start,” senior quarterback Kyler Bean said. “Then we started putting things together and have gotten better since then. We’ve had some tough mistakes and beat ourselves with turnovers. We thought we had it going into the Farwell game after the performance against Lamesa. But our confidence is just as high as it’s ever been.”

It’s much the same way but on a different level for Slaton and first-year head coach Chad Terry, who has quickly made the Tigers into a sleeper for a playoff spot.

Terry, who led Sundown to some of its best seasons in school history in recent years, took over a Slaton team that was 5-5 last season but eager for a path to more success, he said. The Tigers took a huge step last week in beating previously perfect Dimmitt 30-6 after dealing for two weeks with its first loss of the season.

“You never like losing and you hope it’s never one of those deals you have to build off of,” Terry said. “We made some mistakes (in a 22-15 loss to Post) and got them corrected, then the open week came at a good time for us. We’re still learning how to stay focused and practice hard every day. We’re getting better every week and not going backward.”

Terry said overcoming the loss to Post and doing so in a convincing fashion against Dimmitt was a huge confidence boost for his team, but expects a tougher test this week despite New Deal’s sub-.500 record, and his experience of having faced the Lions numerous times in his stint at Sundown gives him a good perspective of what to expect today.

“I have a lot of respect for those guys,” Terry said. “They find a way every year. We’ll used this week and have built it up with our kids as a great opportunity to get things fine-tuned and get ready for district and stay on that steady climb.”

The teams come into the game with similar offensive numbers, but the difference has been on defense.

The Tigers allow just 233.8 yards and 13.0 points per game, while the Lions are surrendering an uncharacteristic 446 yards and almost 43 points per game. Some of that is skewed by the 89-70 whirlwind the Lions won against Lamesa, but even taking out those statistics, they still are allowing 387 yards and 35.8 points per game.

Offensively the Lions have played well and have a bevy of offensive weapons, led by junior running back VJ Gamez, who has rushed for 881 yards and 13 touchdowns already this season.

“We’ve just got to get better and better every week ... and find ways to not shoot ourselves in the foot,” Mayo said. “That’s been our main problem in our losses. We’ve found ways to either fumble or throw an interception or miss a tackle, miss an alignment, something like that.”

Slaton, meanwhile, has been a force behind the steady production of two-way quarterback Bryce Whaley. The junior has rushed for 490 yards and four touchdowns and thrown for 372 yards and five scores.

Only one other player, Freddie Robinson, has rushed for over 100 yards, and Trevone Richardson is the top pass-catcher with nine grabs for 173 yards and three touchdowns. It could be a matchup favoring the Tigers after Lamesa quarterback Kolt Moreland torched the Lions for 569 yards and eight touchdowns.

Terry, however, expects a much different New Deal defense to show up tonight.

“They’re playing faster and with more confidence,” Terry said. “It’s a great test for us. We’re going to use it to take advantage and be battle tested and ready for district. A great way to do that is playing against a team that has turned its ship around.”